Veteran television reporter and presenter Mark Sainsbury studies the February 7 1963 Northern Advocate front page with sound technician Andy Thomas and cameraman Scott Behrnes. Photo / John Stone
Veteran television reporter and presenter Mark Sainsbury studies the February 7 1963 Northern Advocate front page with sound technician Andy Thomas and cameraman Scott Behrnes. Photo / John Stone
A reader from Whangarei comments on the decision to film a documentary about the bus crash at the foot of the Brynderwyn Hills, February 7, 1963.
I cannot understand why people would think it amazing to film a documentary 50 years on, come 2015, about the bus crash at thefoot of the Brynderwyn Hills, February 7, 1963, that involved tangata whenua who were returning to Port Waikato on Waitangi Day.
At the time, I was in the Kawakawa Hospital and gave birth to a daughter on February 6, 1963, Waitangi Day; my husband and sister were with me and the later left to go to Waitangi. My sister was caring for our first child, born February 10, 1961. Her father had to carry her on his shoulders so she could see the Queen. Whanau support was essential so my husband could continue to work.
Now for reporters to make a documentary and to glorify their deaths in this way, defies all odds, innocent people were killed and many injured through no fault of their own, the bus they were travelling in crashed due to brake failure.
I say it is a wake-up call with the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in the year of 2015; the shoe could be on the other foot, what with every evil way becoming normal, who's to say otherwise?
So if you know what's good, you will leave well alone, he who created me comes like a thief in the night and the word is shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee that frameth mischief by a law, that is the whole crux of the matter, the laws of the land are like the wind neither here nor there. I leave that thought with you in peace.
